You're right, scumbags don't want the swag traced back to them. So, if they know it's marked they'll fence it down the pub... (or similar)
Tools and woodworkers
- Thread starter Kittyhawk
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I started out in hobby woodworking when I retired. I built the shed in the footprint of my demolished garage so I was limited in size and what I could put in it. I bought a Makita portable table saw, a Record bandsaw, an Axminster bench drill and, much later, an Axminster lathe. I already has a lot of small power tools.
The Makita was the worst purchase. After being unable to cut a line accurately, found that the blade and the table were offset. Eventually, I added washers to the motor mouting and improved it but I'd lost confidence in it by then. I sold it on to a jobbing chippie for site work. I replaced it with an Axminister Craft table saw and, with a few mods I had a really good and accurate saw which had been set up at the factory and ready to go.
The Record bandsaw is good and does the work I ask of it and the Axminster lathe, like the table saw, is solid, accurate and well constructed with plenty of accessories available.
The small tools: B&D paint stripper, B&D sheet sander and B&D hammer drill are all old and, all but the drill, are still going strong. I replaced the drill with DeWalt battery drills with hammer option which also replaced a couple of Bosch hand drills (NiCad) which were hopeless; a pair of old Draper drills lasted longer and I still use one as a screwdriver.
I have found over the years that names can sell but not always deliver. Makita was a disappointment. And, as I've read on here before, no matter what the price and name, it's down to whether it does the job in a way that leaves you thinking about the work and not the tool.
The Makita was the worst purchase. After being unable to cut a line accurately, found that the blade and the table were offset. Eventually, I added washers to the motor mouting and improved it but I'd lost confidence in it by then. I sold it on to a jobbing chippie for site work. I replaced it with an Axminister Craft table saw and, with a few mods I had a really good and accurate saw which had been set up at the factory and ready to go.
The Record bandsaw is good and does the work I ask of it and the Axminster lathe, like the table saw, is solid, accurate and well constructed with plenty of accessories available.
The small tools: B&D paint stripper, B&D sheet sander and B&D hammer drill are all old and, all but the drill, are still going strong. I replaced the drill with DeWalt battery drills with hammer option which also replaced a couple of Bosch hand drills (NiCad) which were hopeless; a pair of old Draper drills lasted longer and I still use one as a screwdriver.
I have found over the years that names can sell but not always deliver. Makita was a disappointment. And, as I've read on here before, no matter what the price and name, it's down to whether it does the job in a way that leaves you thinking about the work and not the tool.
Actually I think that if you spend 100 quid, then discover you needed to spend 200 quid, then what you have is two options.
eg Buy a No5 plane, but discover you really needed a No6. Is this a bad thing ?.
heimlaga
Established Member
I am a professional...well...sort of.... but as I tend to get involved as a problem solver in those projects that other professionals avoid I have become a professional jack of all trades in wood. Everything from log building to windmill repairs to wooden boat repairs to fine furniture and custom doors and windows. With some metal work thrown in occasionally.
This in turn means that I must have a very wide variety of tools. Buying such amounts of new hig quality tools is just not financially feasible. Cheap new tools are rarely good enough to du the job. This means that some of my tools are new high end and the rest are patched and repaired and sometimes modernized versions of what once in their long forgotten youth was a high end tool. ..... so to keep my tools going I have had to learn to rewind a burned out armature for an electric motor, to pour white metal bearings, to forge the scrapers for scraping the bearing to fit, to forge out and reharden the tip of a prubar, to weld cast iron, to make wooden planes from scratch, and so on............. last week the tractor broke down rather seriously. It is only 51 years old with plenty of life left so very soon I must learn to rebuild a Perkins diesel engine so I can put it back to work.
It would certainly be much more profitable to focus on a narrow niche and tool up for that alone. The problem is that then I would go unemployed at least 6-8 months a year.
This in turn means that I must have a very wide variety of tools. Buying such amounts of new hig quality tools is just not financially feasible. Cheap new tools are rarely good enough to du the job. This means that some of my tools are new high end and the rest are patched and repaired and sometimes modernized versions of what once in their long forgotten youth was a high end tool. ..... so to keep my tools going I have had to learn to rewind a burned out armature for an electric motor, to pour white metal bearings, to forge the scrapers for scraping the bearing to fit, to forge out and reharden the tip of a prubar, to weld cast iron, to make wooden planes from scratch, and so on............. last week the tractor broke down rather seriously. It is only 51 years old with plenty of life left so very soon I must learn to rebuild a Perkins diesel engine so I can put it back to work.
It would certainly be much more profitable to focus on a narrow niche and tool up for that alone. The problem is that then I would go unemployed at least 6-8 months a year.
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